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doubt tempting to identify the author of the Rasārnava-sudhākara, with the chief who honoured the two achāryas. As Vēdānta-Dēsika is believed to have passed away in A.D. 1370,* and as Nayinārācharya had also attained to literary fame before A.D. 1360, their contemporary has been considered to have been Singa I of A.D. 1360, who lived within the life-time of Dëgika but who is not known to have had the title of Sarvajña or more appropriately, Singa II who actually began to rule later, but who may have been a young chieftain at the time of Nayināracharya's visit administering a portion of the territory in conjunction with his father Anavõta, for whom, however, records up to Saka 1307 are found.
The existence of one other Singa at this period may also be noted. In the Srirangam plates of Mummadi-Nāyaka dated in Saka 1280, only two years earlier than the date of the present record, it is stated that a village which had been granted by one of the chiefs of Korukonda to a Parabara-Bhatta, the seventh of that name, was transferred to the temple of god Ranganatba by his mother, on the death of the latter without issue. This grant indicates that the Korukonda chiefs were devout Vaishnavas and that a descendant of the famous Bhattar family of Srirangam was honoured by one of them. This Mummadi-Nayaka is stated to have had two younger brothers, one of whom was a Singa who was ruling over a portion of his brother's territory with headquarters at Kötipura in the Godavari District. His father was a Kūna. But the chief, to whom Dēsika had dedicated the three works referred to above, is said to have been the son of a MadhavaNiyaka. If this is so, he cannot be identified either with the Recherla Singa, son of Anavõta, or the Körukonda Singa, son of Kūna. His identity must therefore remain undetermined for the present.
Another point of interest in this epigraph is the reference to a collection of manuscripts (or a library) which was kept in the matha and & stipulation made for its proper upkeep, as envi.
saged in the expression iva tedina postakangaļum idukku vēndum upakaramangaļum'. It is wellknown that in the medieval centuries, religious institutions of all denominations, Saiva, Vaishnava and Jaina, flourished in South India, either as a result of royal patronage or supported by private benefactions. They appear to have been primarily intended as seminaries for the imparting of religious education and incidentally for the dissemination of secular knowledge as well. The extensive properties granted from time to time to temples and to such religious establishments were left in charge of the heads of these mathas called Mathādhipatis, Mudaliyārs or Jiyars, on whom devolved the duty of supervising the proper conduct of the services for which the endowments had been intended, and who, in turn, enjoyed some privileges as remuneration for their services. Then there were also the Ghatikästhānas (i.e.) establishments for holy and learned men', and smaller educational institutions of which there were many in the land, which were responsible for the intellectual well-being of the community. The munificent donations made for the
1 Mr. M. Somasokhara Sarma has kindly brought to my notice a reference from Mr. M. Doraswamayya's article in the Tirumalai Sri. Venkatuara, Vol. I, No. 1, pp. 51 ff., wherein Singabhupala, the author, has been assigned to a period before A. D. 1370, on the strength of the fact that the Rasárnaud-sudhakara has been quoted from by the Chamatkara-chandrika of Vilvēbvara, which latter is referred to in the Alankarasudhanidhi of Bhöganitha of about. A.D. 1370.
1 The Sanskrit verses engraved in the Srirangam temple oulogising the restoration of the Ranganātha image by Gopapirya, are stated in the Guruparampard to have been composed by Didika himself. If so he must have passed away soon after this incident.
Ante, Vol. XIV, p. 84 and Annual Report on Epigraphy, Madras, for 1913, pp. 129-30. • Life and Literary Writings of Desika, by M. K. Tātacharya, where the following is quoted
पदमिति निगमान्तर्दभिकन प्रतिसमदिम्यत माधवानस्य ।
